For my community health partnership I ended changing partnerships to Fresnuis in Biddeford. I ended up spending the day shadowing a nurse on the floor and interacting with patients who were there for their dialysis. Going in, the only knowledge I had was from our renal unit and the guest speaker who came in. I had yet to consider the population and any social determinants that might affect the outpatient care this population needs to receive multiple times a week. While being there I learned more about their transportation needs as well as the cost and what maine care covers. As they go to dialysis 3 times a week for 3-4 hours (not including transportation) many of the population are unable to work. 

I talked with the nursing staff, asking questions to try and better understand the different aspects of care, and needs these dialysis patients need. One of the most meaningful things I learned in how personalized the care is that these patients receive. That dialysis treatment center is able to accommodate about 75 patients Monday-Saturday, so the staff can easily begin to create therapeutic relationships with their patients. As they will see them multiple times a week for months to years. Seeing how the nursing staff and PCT all knew the patients easily by name, asking about weekend activities and making very personal connections was more than I’ve seen happen in the med surg hospital setting. 

One interaction that stood out to me was one patient who was a retired nurse. When I asked how long she’d been getting dialysis she told me it was the 11th year. That took a second to sink in and consider the commitment and patience this patient had to their health and how even after showing up 3x a week for 11 years, you wouldn’t have even been able to guess. It makes you think about how each of these patients still have a whole life outside of this care they receive. Truly a different side of nursing that I have not seen yet. I am very happy that this partnership was able to be accomplished.